I MISS YOU;;

New York was already covered in a thick blanket of snow and tiny flakes still overlapped the city. The darkness spread across, only the lights shined and the flakes shimmered. Dante sat on the window seal comforter, eyeing the passersby on the sidewalk. New York was so busy--compared to New Jersey--even if they were at least a mile or two away from the nightlife. Dante sighed heavily, kind of missing his boring hometown, Leonardo.

"Dante dear, dinner is almost ready." Dante looked over his shoulder to find his Aunt Mary; she smiled sincerely. Her eyes were distant, yet they had a soft sparkle.

"All right Aunt Mary--do you need any help?" Dante pushed himself into a stand.

"No, honey; your cousins helped too much to have anything left to do. Why don't you go up to the roof and get some fresh air, you've been cooped up all day." Dante saw the irony of that, yet he managed to stay silent.

Dante shrugged his shoulders lightly. He hadn't thought about it, but he knew he had been keeping it repressed and itched for air. Dante wasn't a sightseer, nor an adventurer, he'd like the indoors and didn't want it to change. "All right," Dante ambled passed his Aunt and grabbed his aimlessly dropped jacket from the couch. He trotted up stairs, easing on the coat as he did. He made to the roof from the third staircase; Dante opened the door to only have cold air rush around him. He was chilled to the bone within matter of seconds. His eyes trailed along the city's surface, watching lights flicker, blink, or die, in and on the buildings. Dante crossed his arms neatly over his chest, relieving a chilled sigh. He tilted his head back to the sky--no stars--he closed his eyes, really wishing he could be home. Dante missed it.

Randal was leaning back in his chair, feet against the simple desk's side; he rocked on the hind legs, fiddling with his baseball cap. "Jesus, its boring…" Randal rolled his eyes back into his head and pushed off from the desk. His weight brought him down to the bed behind him; he rolled off the chair, plopping on to his bed as the chair toppled to the ground. Randal stared to the poster of Metallica that was taped above his bed. "High school sucks…" he grumbled.

It was his junior year, Christmas break, and Randal was bored out of his mind. Dante was in New York, visiting his relatives and Randal was bored. Randal had a girlfriend, friends other than Dante, yet he felt and was alone. Dante was his best friend, the only guy he could actually hang out with and not want to shoot his brains out during their conversations.

A soft tap came to Randal's door and the next moment, Randal's mother was poking her head in. "Dinner is almost ready, Randal."

"Whatever."

Randal's mother rolled her eyes. "I found this on the kitchen counter, you might want to keep it somewhere safe." His mother placed a yellow sticky note on the back of Randal's door before leaving.

Randal tilted his head back towards the door to find the little square stuck to the door. He pushed himself up and inched to the door. As he came closer, he was able to read what was on the note. Scribbled in pencil, it said: 'Dante's Aunt's phone number: 201-5434. Call whenever!'

Randal peeled off the note and examined it. "Call him? Wouldn't that be too desperate?" He kept the note stuck to his middle finger as he went back to his bed.

Dante climbed back down to the dining room to find his whole family sitting at the table with a large Christmas Eve meal. Dante took his seat next to his father and striped from the jacket.

"What's wrong, boy?" Dante looked to his right, finding his grandfather. "You have such a long face, why's that?"

Dante shrugged his slumped shoulders. "Homesick, I suppose."

His grandfather smirked, "What do you miss the most?"

Dante took some time to reply for his father passed down a plate with assorted foods; Dante passed that one down to the end, his grandfather. Another plate came down and Dante took that plate for himself. "I dunno, Randal probably--surprisingly."

"Randal?" His grandfather questioned.

Dante's father must've heard as he butted into the semi-conversation. "Randal? Sometimes I wonder if you're gay."
Dante pouted his lips.

"Who the hell is Randal?"

"Randal is Dante's best friend." Dante's father answered for his son. "Ever since kindergarten--that boy is fuckin' crazy."

"Butt-buddies!" Dante's cousins shouted from across the table.

Dante's cheeks flushed, "I'm not gay and Randal is not my butt-buddy!"

"Leave the boy alone."

"Why miss Randal? Why not Caitlin?"

Dante wondered that himself. "I dunno, it's always fun to be around Randal…"

Randal pushed his untouched mash potatoes around on his plate.

"Eat yer god damn food or I'll feed it to the dog!" Randal's father hissed.

"Ah shut up, I'm deciding!"

"Deciding on what? On eating?"

"Don't get your thong in a bunch, I'll eat when I'll eat."

Randal's father left the table in a fuss, leaving Randal and his wife alone. "Don't have to be hard on your old man." She paused, taking a bite from the chicken. "Are you going to call Dante?"

Randal dropped his fork, "I don't know, probably having a good time at his relatives, don't want to ruin it."

Randal's mother sighed, "You're not going to ruin it, call him." She stopped, placing her fork down as well. "I can't force you--eat your dinner and then wash your plate." Randal's mother took her plate and her husband's from the table and followed where her husband disappeared.

Randal picked up his fork once more only to fiddle with his food. "Damn it," without telling himself to, he stuffed his mouth with the food. He felt somewhat ashamed; he was repressed and knew it. He wanted to give Dante a call, yet he had a feeling it was Dante's time off from Randal's antics. Randal could just imagine Dante sight seeing, a large smile on his face and a shirt with black printed words: "I'm NOT with Randal!" and possibly a smiley-face on the back. Randal sighed heavily, staring at his chicken leg.

After the dinner--in which all the conversations were centered around Dante's "man-love" for Randal or Dante's question of sexuality--Dante returned to his room, the basement. He laid on the messy bed, his fingers flicking the Weebles centered on his stomach. He sat up, snatching the two Weebles before they could topple off. He stuck the two Weebles into a basket full of random items; on the basket handle was a tag written out to Randal. In the basket contained the two Weebles, a small statue of liberty, a magazine of hermaphrodite porn, two tickets to the Jersey Devils hockey game next week, and items bought off the street that was related to Christmas.

"Shit, where's Caitlin's gift?" Dante scurried out of his bed and shuffled through the already cluttered mess. He found the black jewelry box and cracked it open. It was a small diamond ring. Soon, he remembered Randal's words before he set off on his trip: "Getting a ring is serious shit; she cheats on you, Dante. If you get it for her, she'll fuckin' say it was from another man-whore. Money wasted." Dante closed the box, "Money fuckin' wasted." He dropped back on the bed, "Wait a second…" he quickly sat up. "Maybe not…but at least it'll be worth it." He quickly made his way up to the living room where his family sat with his relatives for dessert. "Hey mom, dad, can we head to the jewelry store, I need to return this ring."

Randal gazed his eyes over the presents he bought for Dante: a nice, new hockey stick, new roller blades, and a Penguin jersey. He shook his head, he could imagine Dante's return and the man would bring nothing or the whole Tiffany n' Co store. No matter what, it wouldn't have a good outcome. It was then when he realized what was the final present. Two sets of gifts for two different situations. He pushed off from his chair and made his way out of his room; as he passed by his parents eating on the couch and watching some movie, he heard one of them ask on where he was going. "Pawn shop," he simply replied. They didn't make another peep when Randal exited the home; he took his father's car and drove all the way down to his work, RST. What he expected was there, Jay and Silent Bob continuing their antics late at night. Randal parked his car next to the sidewalk and got out. "Yo junkies, got anything on you besides shit?"

"We've got no shit! Whatcha lookin' for, bitch?" Jay answered.

Randal came up to Jay, "Anything for a special person? Besides weed?"

Silent Bob gently slapped Jay's arm and pulled out something from his jacket pocket. Randal looked over the items and grinned, "That's perfect, I'll take it."

Dante and Randal ambled towards Randal's semi-clean room; at least it was better looking than Dante's. "Why come here?"

"Why not?" Randal replied with a grin.

Dante rolled his eyes as they both entered; Dante handed the wrapped basket to Randal, "Merry Christmas, man."

Randal grinned to the sight of his present, "Merry X-mas to you too. Your gift is in my closet, open it at your own risk." Randal began to peel the wrapping off the brown basket. He saw the porn only and smiled, just by that he loved his present.

"Holy shit, Randal! This is great!" Dante pulled out the blades and stick. "Oh my god! Thanks so much!" Dante found the Penguin jersey near where he had found the other items.

Randal took a seat down on his bed and peeled off the wrapping paper entirely and smile softly to the assorted gifts; he picked up the chocolate Santa and Statue of Liberty souvenir. "Wow, looks like some cheap Easter basket."

Dante turned around with an unappreciated look on his face. "I tried--you're a hard person to shop for, y'know?"

"And you're expensive, so it evens things out." Randal placed the items to the side and pulled out more of that cheap New York items until he reached the bottom, the best part. "Oh man, hockey tickets!? Sweet!! And porn, you know me like an open boo--WEEBLES!" Randal took out the tiny Weebles from the bottom and grinned. "Holy shit, I haven't seen these in for years!"

"Now do you think its some cheap Easter basket?"

"Nah…thanks."

Dante rose his brows, "Oh yeah, almost forgot something." Dante placed down his gifts to the ground in able to fish out something from his cargo pants. He pulled out a black box from his pocket and tossed it to Randal. Randal had to drop the Weebles into the basket--having the basket topple over because of that--to catch the box.

"Got the damn ring for Caitlin?"

"No; open it."

Randal looked up to Dante curiously before cracking the case open. He saw a single, golden band within the box. "Asking me to marry you, or something?"

"No! It's a sign for our friendship, dolt."

"Our friendship is a mere ring? Oh, how I feel cherished." Randal teased, pulling out the ring and easing it on his middle finger. It fitted like a glove and he enjoyed it. "Thanks, man."

"No problem," Dante smiled, somewhat flushed.

Randal turned to his desk and picked up a two boxes from the surface. "Got you something else as well." He tossed the two boxes to Dante, and the other managed to catch them easily.

Dante did the same as Randal, looked curiously to his friend with a goofy smile and opened the first box. "A ring as well?" Dante took out the silver band and placed it on his middle finger. "It's nice--what's the other?"

"Open and find out, asshole."

Dante placed the empty box into his pocket and opened the second one. Inside was a gold necklace with a small cross on the chain. Dante was surprised at first, but a smile soon formed on his lips. He unhooked the chain and placed it on his neck; he lifted the cross with his fingers and watched the golden cross shimmer. "This is really nice…it is."

"I knew you would be all gay about it."

"What!? You liked mine as well."

"Yeah, difference is that you're gay," Randal grinned.

"Ah fuck you," he teased.

An awkward silence soon fell over the two as they slowly gazed over their received items. They didn't know what to say, they were at a lost of words for once. Dante glanced to Randal sitting, and Randal glanced to Dante standing. They were embarrassed, happy, and unsure what to say. They already said what was needed, but would they have to say what was wanted? Dante sighed heavily, slicing the awkward silence in half.

"I missed you…"

Randal rose his brow, "What are you talking about?"

"When I was in New York…I missed you, it was really shitty without you." Dante kept his eyes away from Randal's face, afraid to see that disgusted expression he was predicting.

Randal was silent for a moment or two. "Yeah…I missed you a lot too…" Randal looked up to Dante and smiled. "Ah, told you were gay."

Dante grinned and lunged forward at Randal; he tackled the man to the bed and pinned him down as if he was going to punch him. Once close, they stared at each other; Randal's face flushed, attempting to pull away but he couldn't manage to. Dante was flushed as well, but he remained motionless and kept staring at his friend's face. "Get off me, fag…" Randal whispered in a soft, gentle voice.

"No." Dante leaned down, placing his face into Randal's neck; he sniffled a little, eyes teary and red from irritated tears. "I-I missed you…" he whispered into Randal's ear; his hands released Randal's hold and dropped his hands in a slump.

Randal wrapped his arms around Dante, pulling the other to lay down on him. "Yeah…I missed you too…I missed you too." Randal rolled Dante gently to the bed and switched places with the other; Randal gave Dante a gently peck to his lips. "I missed you too, never leave me like that…"

Dante closed his eyes, afraid to move, afraid to return the kiss that he had longed for. "Like what?"

Randal kissed Dante's lips once more, this time he kept it on longer, more passionate. "You know, fag…now shut the hell up and kiss me."

Dante scoffed lightly--he didn't really approve of gays or man on man…but with Randal, it felt so right. Dante leaned up and returned the two kisses with his own kisses; he wrapped his arms around Randal's neck and forced the other to slid down to the bed. Their kiss lasted longer than a minute without tongue, but after that it became into a tongue on tongue action. Randal wrapped his arms around Dante's waist as they kept on their kiss. It had only lasted two minutes as they both pulled away in distraught; they stared at each other, wondering if it all made any sense. It really didn't, but they couldn't care less. Dante stuffed his face into Randal's shoulder once more, yet this time he only made a soft snoozing sound. Randal smirked lightly, moving his hands off the other's waist and removed Dante's arms from his neck, and then laid next to Dante. He stared up at his ceiling to the Metallica poster and grinned. "Jesus, he's a good kisser…"

Author's notes: Just some Christmas special I've made up upon my obsession with Clerks and Kevin Smith. I apologize if I don't have their characters down completely (especially Jay's), but I hope it's at least close enough. Thank you for reading this and I do hope you post a review on it. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!